Hanover Says Her Marriage To Mayor Is 'Very Precious'

Donna Hanover said yesterday that her husband, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, and her marriage were ''very precious'' to her, as she spoke publicly for the first time since the mayor disclosed that he had prostate cancer and acknowledged a close friendship with an Upper East Side woman.

In an unlikely setting, at the back entrance to St. Patrick's Cathedral, Ms. Hanover held a news conference before joining thousands of mourners to pay her respects to Cardinal John O'Connor early yesterday afternoon. She arrived with a phalanx of staff members, who had notified news organizations in advance that she would make a statement.

''I appreciate all the love and kind thoughts that so many people have sent me and my children during these difficult days,'' she said.

Trembling perceptibly, she said, ''I will be supportive of Rudy in his fight against his illness, as this marriage and this man have been very precious to me.''

On Wednesday, The New York Post published photographs of Judith Nathan, the Upper East Side resident who has accompanied the mayor to town hall meetings and other events in recent months.

That same day, Mr. Giuliani responded to several questions about Ms. Nathan at the beginning of his daily news briefing at City Hall. He called her a ''very good friend'' and told reporters that he hoped that they would respect her privacy. Later in the week, asked specifically whether the relationship was romantic, the mayor said it was a private matter and he would not say more about it.

Yesterday, Ms. Hanover would not take reporters' questions, and spoke obliquely of the future. ''The well-being and safety of Andrew and Caroline,'' the couple's children, ages 14 and 10, respectively, ''will be my primary concern in any decisions that have to be made, as has always been the case,'' she said.

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For his part, the mayor continued to assert yesterday that some matters should be considered private. In the lobby of the Inter-Continental Hotel, where Mr. Giuliani was seeking the endorsement of the Liberal Party, he responded to the results of a poll published in The Daily News that included questions about his friendship with Ms. Nathan.

More than two-thirds of the 431 people questioned said they believed that the mayor's friendship with Ms. Nathan was a private matter and said it had no effect on how they viewed him as a candidate for the United States Senate, the poll found.

''Most New Yorkers feel the way I feel,'' the mayor said, adding, ''Somebody's private life should be left alone.'' He added, ''The mere fact that you're a public official doesn't mean that you're not a human being and that you don't have the same issues and things that go on that other human beings do, and everybody is entitled to privacy.''

In addition, he said, ''it really is rare to find private life problems that really affect your work.''

The mayor has said he will not make a final determination about continuing his campaign for the Senate until he decides on a course of treatment for his cancer.

Yesterday, as she prepared to enter St. Patrick's, Ms. Hanover said: ''Cardinal O'Connor often told me that my family was in his prayers. He was a Navy chaplain, and I was raised in the Navy, and we have that as a special bond.